Welcome to the online presence of the Butler Children's Literature Center, housed in Dominican's SOIS and generously supported by the Butler Family Foundation. Here, we run Butler Book Banter (B3), a book discussion group; host an annual lecture; and invite anyone interested in books for youth to visit us during our open hours (suspended until further notice). You can still reach us at butler@dom.edu.

Roses Have Thorns: A Review of Girl’s With Sharp Sticks

Girl’s With Sharp Sticks By Suzanne YoungSimon PulseMarch 19, 2019Grades 9 and up

Welcome, investors, to Innovations Academy. Here girls are created and controlled to be perfect. Although there are problems with Philomena Rhodes. She has been acting up despite her impulse behavior therapy. Philomena has recently become distraught because her friend, Lennon Rose, has gone missing. Lennon Rose had been reading poems that encouraged ideas. She began to question the school’s teachings, and it started affecting the other girls: Sydney, Annalise, Brynn, and Marcella. No longer willing to be brainwashed by the men, they escape the dreaded school with the help of their new friends, Jackson and Quentin. Now, they’re on they are on their way to uncover the mysteries at Innovations Corporation. This dystopian nightmare of a novel is the first book in Suzanne Young’s Girls with Sharp Sticks series. Young takes her time to show the disturbing world that these girls live in. The men in the novel are possessive, dominating, and obsessed with the girls. Controlling what they wear, eat, and learn. Women’s rights are being taken away, and the girls discover that what these teachers, administrators, and investors are doing is wrong. The tone is creepy and unnerving. However, the book is empowering, especially in terms of sisterhood. Young writes, “They manipulate us with lollipops and guilt…and now, we can choose to be better than these men. We choose to love each other. We choose to be free” (278/353). The girls have a strong connection that is constant throughout the book. It’s not one girl fighting to escape; it’s all of these girls who have formed a bond. A good addition to any library because it deals with fundamental human rights and why we need them.